ASTI officially launched its new agricultural research and development indicators for Latin America and the Caribbean at a roundtable event at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on Wednesday April 27.

Pedro Martel, division chief of the IDB’s Environment, Rural Development Disaster Risk Management division offered welcoming remarks and Cesar Falconi, principal economist in the same division and a key supporter of the project, gave opening and closing words, and encouraged the lively and open discussion.

The new data tell a positive story of the region, with both agricultural research spending and number of researchers increasing dramatically (at 37 and 20 percent, respectively) since 2006.

However, ASTI presenters emphasized that the picture was not rosy for every country. Many Central American countries, Caribbean island nations, and poorer Andean countries are increasingly falling behind in terms of infrastructure, investment levels, and capacity, while an aging pool of scientists— particularly those with PhD training—raises concerns about future knowledge gaps.

Nin-Pratt noted that many of the factors that led to a “perfect storm” of high agricultural productivity in the region in recent years—high commodity prices, favorable policy changes, new technologies, and private sector investment—will not be sufficient to sustain this production in the future. “Future growth will depend on efficient innovation systems,” he said.

As Beintema concluded, “Given the critical role of agricultural research in addressing climate change, persistent rural poverty, and other challenges, stable and sustainable levels of funding are key.”

ASTI is proud to announce the launch of its new website, loaded with easy-to-use tools for viewing, comparing, and downloading key agricultural R&D information.These new tools allow you to:

Rank and compare the status and direction of agricultural research investment and capacity across countries in Africa south of the Sahara, West Asia and North Africa, and Central America and the Caribbean.

Access detailed national-level trends in agricultural research investment and human resources, and download factsheets and other information on interactive country pages.

Explore in-depth datasets for a large number of low-and middle-income countries in the data download tool.

All of these interactive tools are available on a clean, newly redesigned website that—thanks to ASTI’s new backend coding system—is automatically updated with new data regularly.Watch a video tutorial on how to engage with interactive data, compare countries and regions, and download custom datasets.

Over the past five decades, investments in agricultural R&D have had a tremendous impact on agricultural productivity and food security around the world. There is, however, a substantial time lag between investing in research and reaping its rewards: typically decades, not just years. Mobilizing adequate levels of long-term R&D funding is challenging, as agricultural R&D competes with other critical public domains, including health and education. Throughout the Arab world, agricultural R&D was not a political priority for decades, but when food prices rose to record highs in 2008, governments realized they could no longer neglect agricultural investment, and started looking at ways to enhance agricultural productivity.

To accelerate this agricultural growth, Arab countries need sustainable funding for strategic agricultural research programs, combined with well-trained researchers and well-equipped research centers. A recent report released by ASTI assesses trends in investments and human resource capacity in agricultural R&D in 11 countries in West Asia and North Africa during 2009–2012. It demonstrates that despite recent increases in agricultural R&D expenditures, spending in most countries still remains below the levels required to sustain their agricultural sectors’ needs. In most Arab countries, total agricultural R&D spending as a percentage of agricultural GDP continues to fall short of the United Nations guideline level of at least 1 percent.

On a positive note, considerable progress was made in building human capacity in agricultural R&D in West Asia and North Africa in recent years. Ten out of eleven countries for which detailed data were available reported increases in the number of PhD-qualified researchers. Egypt currently employs more agricultural researchers with PhDs than the rest of Africa combined. Another reason for the growth in capacity in recent years has been the higher education sector’s increased involvement in agricultural R&D, both due to the creation of new universities and of new departments and faculties within existing universities.Compared with other developing regions around the world, funding for agricultural R&D in Arab countries is very undiversified and relies largely on government sources. In many countries, government funding covers little more than salary-related expenses, leaving insufficient resources to facilitate day-to-day research operations, let alone the maintenance of infrastructure and equipment. Private funding remains a largely untapped resource. Cultivating private funding requires that Arab governments provide a more enabling policy environment through tax incentives, protection of intellectual property rights, and regulatory reforms to encourage the spill-in of international technologies.

Despite these advancements, retaining a critical mass of PhD-qualified researchers proves challenging. Official status differences between government and university-based scientists prevent government agencies in many countries from offering the competitive salaries and benefits. Many well-qualified, young researchers have left government R&D agencies in favor of better conditions at universities. Cross-country differences are also driving staff turnover. In recent years, there has been a considerable exodus of highly qualified professors and researchers from Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon toward the Gulf and other high-income countries. Besides, more than half the PhD-qualified researchers at national agricultural research institutes in Algeria, Jordan, Tunisia, Sudan, and Yemen are over 50 and due to retire in the short- to medium-term. Adequate recruitment, succession, and training strategies are urgently called for to ensure future continuity of research in these countries.

Another critical area needing attention is the development of strong, national agricultural research policy agendas. In many Arab countries, agriculture-related priorities are not always satisfactorily embedded within national S&T policies, with the result that decisionmaking is fragmented and coordination among the relevant actors lacking. Policymakers must also ensure that improved varieties and technologies released by research institutes are more effectively disseminated to farmers. This involves strengthening agricultural extension agencies.

The impact of agricultural R&D does not stop at national borders. Given the numerous common challenges faced by Arab countries—including climate change, water scarcity, and rapid population growth—a more integrated approach to agricultural R&D that reduces wasteful duplication could benefit the region as a whole.

As the world’s population continues to expand, ensuring that food production can meet the growing demand is an ever-mounting challenge. Climate change, soil degradation, and volatile food prices further threaten food security at a time when increasing agricultural output is paramount.

Regional spending on agricultural research and development (R&D) must double if the countries of SSA are to meet the recommended United Nations (UN) and African Union’s target of investing 1 percent of agricultural GDP in public agricultural R&D, not to mention the even more ambitious post-2015 recommendation that low- and middle-income countries ramp up spending on agricultural R&D by five percent from 2015 to 2025.

The report highlights additional challenges to national agricultural research systems:

Low staff retention and qualification levels: Civil service recruitment restrictions, low salaries, and inadequate funding have prevented many public agricultural research institutions from competing for, training, and retaining staff; in addition, a very large share of senior researchers are approaching retirement

Low female participation: Although female participation in agricultural R&D has increased in recent years, women have less influence on decisionmaking and policy because men continue to dominate in senior research and management positions.

High funding volatility: Volatile fluctuations in agricultural R&D funding exert negative impacts on agricultural research systems by impeding strategic planning, undermining the conduct of research programs, demotivating staff, and eroding prior progress, all of which affect the quality, quantity, and efficiency of research outcomes and their ultimate impact on agricultural productivity and poverty alleviation.

High donor dependency: Significant shares of government funding are generally allocated to salaries, leaving many countries dependent on donor and development bank funding to support the day-to-day costs of operating research programs and developing and maintaining R&D infrastructure; in addition to increasing funding volatility, high dependence on donor funding has the potential to skew national research priorities.

African governments and research agencies are limited in their choice of options to address the many challenges they face in developing their agricultural research systems because of funding constraints. The ASTI report lists various successful policy changes already adopted in certain countries, which can offer valuable lessons for other countries.

“It is critical that African countries invest more in agricultural research to ensure that they can feed their populations,” said Beintema. “Underinvestment, inadequate human resource capacity, poor research infrastructure, and a lack of coherent policies continue to constrain the quantity and quality of research outputs in many countries.”

African agricultural research spending increased by 40 percent during 2000–2011, which was largely driven by increased spending in just two countries: Nigeria and Uganda.

Investment levels in most other countries are still well below the levels required to sustain agricultural R&D needs. In 2011, only 10 African countries met the NEPAD/UN target of spending 1% of agricultural output on agricultural research.

Donors and development banks remain an important funding source for African agricultural R&D, but are also main drivers of funding volatility.

Despite rapid growth in the total number of agricultural researchers in the region, many countries continue to face serious capacity constraints, which has been accelerated by the aging of more qualified researchers.

This highlights the urgent need to recruit and train the next generation of agricultural scientists.

There are many encouraging signs that African agricultural research is moving in the right direction, not in the least thanks to an increasing number of recent (sub-) regional initiatives. Nonetheless, much more is needed to tackle the remaining challenges, which the Science Agenda for Agriculture in Africa is set to address. The Science Agenda is based on the belief that African agriculture is too important to be outsourced to international investors and that every country requires a basic science capacity as an essential part of an agriculture-led social and economic transformation.

ASTI indicators provide a useful benchmark of the current status of agricultural R&D investment and capacity in Africa and for monitoring future progress of the Science Agenda, which is currently under final review for the adoption by AU Heads of Government in July 2014. The continuous monitoring of agricultural R&D investment and capacity in Africa is an effective tool to hold governments accountable for implementing the necessary policy changes and funding allocations needed to meet the objectives of the Science Agenda. Indicators play a key role in driving future change.

Forthcoming ASTI outputs for Africa over the next few months include a series of country factsheets, a regional report, datasets, and a revamped ASTI website.

The 2nd General Assembly of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) was the ideal launching pad for a new series of ASTI country factsheets. These factsheets convert ASTI data and analysis into visual, easy-to-read overviews of agricultural R&D capacity and investments in African countries. The launch allowed for key stakeholders from ASARECA member countries to get a first glance at these innovative ASTI outputs. ASTI head Nienke Beintema was a featured speaker at the General Assembly where the factsheets were widely distributed. The ASARECA General Assembly was attended by 400 representatives from the 11 ASARECA countries , including Ministers of Agriculture, directors of the National Agricultural Research Institutes, university deans, researchers, farmer representatives and other stakeholders. Also in attendance were representatives of various regional and international organizations as well as the donor community.

The objective of the ASTI factsheets is to highlight trends and challenges in country-level agricultural R&D spending and human capacity, and allow for a cross-country comparison of key indicators. The first five countries featured include Burundi, DR Congo, Madagascar, Sudan, and Tanzania. Each factsheet contains a quick overview of recent trends, as well as a presentation of key institutional, financial, and human resource indicators. Each factsheet also features a more in-depth analysis of some of the key challenges that individual agricultural R&D systems are facing.

The ASTI team—in close collaboration with the National Agricultural Research Institutes and other national partners—is currently finalizing factsheets for 36 countries in Africa South of the Sahara. These will become available on the ASTI website in the coming few months. The ASTI website will also be enhanced and expanded to include data download, graphing, and benchmarking tools.

Global challenges, including the recent food and financial crises and climate change, highlight the need for continued and scaled-up investments in agricultural R&D. Following a decade of slow growth in the 1990s, global public spending on agricultural R&D increased by 22 percent from 2000 to 2008—from $26.1 billion to $31.7 billion.

Middle-income countries have been the main drivers of global growth in recent years; spending growth in high-income countries stalled. China and India accounted for nearly half the global increase, but spending also rose significantly in a number of other middle-income countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Iran, Nigeria, and Russia. Growth was particularly strong from 2005 to 2008.

Most notably in Brazil and China, long-term government commitment to agricultural R&D and a supportive policy environment have fueled increased agricultural productivity, as well as overall economic growth. These productivity gains demonstrate the benefits of sustained government investments.

Although agricultural research spending continued to grow in low-income countries overall from 2000 to 2008, in many, spending stagnated or declined. These countries, particularly in Africa south of the Sahara, are highly vulnerable to volatile research funding, often the result of the short-term, project-oriented nature of donor and development bank funding. Additionally, R&D agencies in these countries lack the necessary human, operating, and infrastructure resources to successfully develop, adopt, and disseminate science and technology innovations.

What is the role of the private sector in agricultural R&D in developing countries? And what government policies enhance private sector innovation?

A series of country reports and thematic papers published by ASTI—based on a collaborative project led by Rutgers University, IFPRI, and McGill University—address these questions and examine recent trends in private sector agricultural R&D in a number of developing countries.

Over the past decades, technologies transferred by foreign private companies have been a major source of innovation in eight countries in South Asia and Africa (Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia), especially in the areas of crop protection, agrochemicals, poultry farming, agricultural machinery, and processing. In addition to technology transfer, many local and multinational companies conduct some level of in-country research.

Despite the private sector’s role in agricultural innovation, there is still scope for improvement. Public policy and regulatory reforms could significantly reduce the time, effort and costs associated with bringing new technologies and products to the agricultural sector. Farmers, rural entrepreneurs, and agribusinesses could benefit from reductions in lengthy administrative procedures to import agricultural inputs, removals of cumbersome regulations for registering new products, and improvements in tax incentives for investments in research.

Few studies have been able to take a close look at private investment in agricultural research and its drivers in developing countries. Researchers for the current studies collected and analyzed data on private agricultural R&D capacity and investment from hundreds of companies in the eight countries in South Asia and Africa. The reports examined trends in private investment in research, interactions between technology transfer and research investment, and the policies that influence private research and innovation in the agricultural sector.

The series of reports offers a number of policy recommendations aimed at promoting greater private sector involvement in agricultural research. It also makes a case for more in-depth analysis on the impact of policy changes on private sector innovation, and the impact of private sector innovation on productivity and poverty.

A new road map charts constructive ways forward to revitalize African agricultural research and development (R&D). Strong national agricultural R&D programs are crucial to enable farmers to be more productive and prosperous. Published by the Agricultural Science & Technology Indicators (ASTI) initiative—facilitated by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)—the road map describes the current situation and major challenges in four key areas: (i) sustainable financing for agricultural research, (ii) training the next generation of scientists, (iii) evaluating research performance, and (iv) aligning and rationalizing institutional structures.

Most importantly, the road map offers practical, solution-oriented guidance in each of these areas. The guidelines are written for policymakers, national governments, and donors. They set out ways to bring agricultural research capacity in line with the problems of today—problems such as rapidly growing populations, climate change, water scarcity, and volatile food prices. Addressing these problems requires increased, consistent, and coordinated funding from governments, donors, and development banks.

The road map document "Reflections on the Conference" synthesizes the paper presentations, panel discussions and deliberations by participants at the conference “Agricultural R&D: Investing in Africa’s Future” convened by ASTI/IFPRI and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) in late 2011. The wide interest in the conference and its outputs is indicative of the high priority of agriculture on today’s development agenda—due in part to rising global food prices. Smallholder farmers especially benefit from agricultural research tailored to their local climate and farming conditions. Nonetheless, ASTI data confirms that African governments have persistently underinvested in agriculture, especially agricultural research. Now, as much of Sub-Saharan Africa experiences relatively brisk economic growth, the time is right for greater investment in research capacity.

While the organizational structure of African R&D is in place, it is highly complex. Key contributions are made by national, subregional and international institutes. Strong linkages between these levels can stimulate local breakthroughs, because countries alone are often too small to provide the required capacity.

Beyond a more interconnected global agricultural research system, higher and more stable levels of government funding are needed. A focus on longer term objectives will promote financial stability, institutional efficiency, and overall quality of research outputs. For this, governments need to identify long-term national R&D priorities and design programs to match.